EU calls off meeting with Ukraine president over Yulia Tymoshenko row

The European Union on Tuesday called off a meeting with Viktor Yanukovych, the Ukrainian President, in a row over last week's jailing of his political rival Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's former prime minister.

Yulia TymoshenkoPhoto: AP

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels

6:31PM BST 18 Oct 2011

The talks scheduled for Thursday had been intended to seal an EU-Ukraine agreement on trade and aid ahead of its signature by European and Ukrainian leaders in December.

Ukraine jailed Mrs Tymoshenko, the country's opposition leader, for seven years after a trial that both the EU and the United States have condemned as politically motivated.

She was found guilty of abuse of office for negotiating a gas pricing agreement with Russia while in office as prime minister. Kiev has claimed that the deal forces it to pay more than it can afford for Russian gas.

Her imprisonment means the 50-year-old heroine of the 2004 pro-Western Orange Revolution will now be unable to run in parliamentary elections next year and a presidential poll in 2015.

Brussels officials said the postponement, for an indefinite period, was to remind Ukraine that "progress in ensuring the rule of law and independence of the judiciary" was a condition of closer ties to the EU.

"The meeting is postponed to a later occasion when the conditions will be more conducive to making progress in bilateral relations," said an EU spokesman.

President Yanukovych insisted that he would not bow to Western pressure to release Mrs Tymoshenko or go cap in hand to the EU asking for trade negotiations to continue.

"It is not a question of whether Ukraine or Europe likes the sentence or not. It is a question of the rule of law. There is a court that takes decisions which must be respected," he said.

"I am not going to go begging to anyone. If there is a need to meet someone – I am ready. If not, then I'll just continue on my way."

Mr Yanukovich has set the EU trade deal as a key foreign policy objective while also trying to build a friendlier relationship with Russia, after a series of disputes over gas supplies have led to Moscow cutting off critical energy supplies.

Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian President, on Tuesday attempted to drive a wedge between the EU and Ukraine by taking sides against Brussels.

"This is an internal affair of Ukraine," said President Medvedev following talks with Mr Yanukovych over a new gas pricing deal. "I proceed from a recognition of Ukraine's sovereignty in respect to its leaders' decisions."